home care

Often, adult children and other family members fail to consider how caring for an aging parent or loved one can impact the dynamics of their family relationships until they are face to face with the situation. Siblings and close family members can live next door to one another, in the same city or across the country, but the challenge of providing care and what it will mean to them as family caregivers can be stressful. Even the strongest of relationships can become strained when roles change and people become more than sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters and take on the role of caregiver.

When thinking of caregivers, you may picture a female around 20-30 years old, assisting an elderly person. While this isn’t an inaccurate assumption, it isn’t quite fair. Today, more and more people are taking on the role of ‘caregiver.’ Whether they are caregivers of family members or by professional employment, people of a different race, age and gender are contributing to this role of service. Caregivers are daughters, wives, husbands, sons, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, partners and friends.

The impact of COVID-19 has hit different people in different ways. For many, fear of contracting the virus has made daily activities like grocery shopping or picking up prescriptions a challenge. Some families have lost childcare due to the closure of childcare facilities. And every day public interactions have become scary and risky.

With the proliferation of COVID-19, parents of school age children are scrambling to secure safe child care as they go back to work. Parents who once depended on camps and day care are questioning how safe it is to have their children attend programs with many children enrolled. Some camps and day care centers are weighing steps to open—but others aren’t certain if or when they’ll reopen their facilities. Parents are challenged with the “what ifs” of allowing their children to be exposed to other kids.